Car No.4 (1894)

Car No.4 was the first of six Tunnel Cars built by G.F Milnes and delivered to the M.E.R in Spring 1894 for the opening of the extension to Laxey. The car was originally fitted with Milnes trucks and Mather & Platt electrical equipment. In 1898, to provide a powerful enclosed car alongside the newly delivered 14-18 series, No.4 gained Car No.16’s Milnes Series 3 Trucks, fitted with four 20hp E.C.C Motors instead of the two 25hp originals.

In 1903 the other five cars of it’s series gained ‘Brush’ equipments and air brakes. However, following the modifications carried out five years earlier, No.4 retained it’s 1898 ‘swapped’ equipment and went from being the uniquely most powerful Tunnel Car to the uniquely least powerful Tunnel Car.

With it’s lower power and lack of air brakes, it is thought that No.4 was removed from front-line service quickly after 1903 and mainly used as a Staff Car transporting workers from Laxey to Dhoon Quarry, with the Car seeing little cosmetic and mechanical attention after this date.

No.4 was one of four Cars lost in the Laxey Car Shed fire in April 1930, and wasn’t replaced. In the recent era, Car No.6 masqueraded as No.4 for in Summer 1995.